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France defended on Monday its decision to sell an advanced warship to Russia, shrugging off concerns that the helicopter carrier could threaten Georgia and arguing that Moscow had to be treated with respect. Russia asked to buy the 21,300-tonne, Mistral class warship to modernise hardware that was exposed as outdated during its five-day war against Georgia in 2008. After months of debate, France finally announced on Monday it would sell the vessel to Russia for an undisclosed sum. President Nicolas Sarkozy defended the decision during a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who was paying a flying visit to...

Major Work Ahead On T-50 Stealth Fighter By David A Fulghum, Maxim Pyadushkin and Douglas Barrie Russia has begun flying a stealthy fifth-generation fighter to rival the U.S. F-22, but Western analysts question whether Sukhoi can develop and deliver the aircraft by 2015 as promised. Sukhoi’s T-50, which made its 47-min. first flight on Jan. 29 from the KnAAPO facility in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, is the prototype of the PAK FA “future front-line aircraft,” the first new-generation fighter for the Russian air force since the Su-27 Flanker entered service in 1984. India plans to co-fund development and co-produce the new aircraft. The...

PARIS — France has agreed to sell Russia an advanced amphibious warship and is considering a Russian request for three more, French defense officials said Monday. It would be the first major arms deal between Russia and a NATO member. French President Nicolas Sarkozy approved the sale of one of the Mistral-class force projection and command vessels after months of discussions. Since then, Russian naval officials requested three more, said Jacques de Lajugie, head of international development at the French arms agency DGA. "We are in the process of examining" the request for more ships, de Lajugie told a news...

Russia declares NATO a ‘threat’ 08.02.2010 11:39 Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, just before the weekend’s Munich Security Conference, declared NATO to be Russia’s greatest threat. The Kremlin declared a new doctrine citing NATO as a threat and strongly criticizing the decision to put American Patriot missiles in Poland and the anti-missile shield elements in Romania. “I am shocked. This is not realistic,” stated NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, at the conference’s second day, Saturday. Rasmussen added that the shock is doubled by the fact that he met with Russian leaders not long ago to discuss NATO’s new strategic plan...

Romania has agreed to base American anti-missile systems on its territory. These will probably be land based Aegis systems. So far, Aegis has achieved an 83 percent success rate during live test firings. So now everyone wants an Aegis ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) ship for protection. The Aegis system was designed to operate aboard warships (cruisers and destroyers that have been equipped with the special software that enables the AEGIS radar system to detect and track incoming ballistic missiles). However, there is also a land based version that Israel is interested in buying. The development version of AEGIS was land based,...

Ukraine Exit Polls Say Yanukovych Has Won Election Exit polls from Ukraine's presidential election indicate opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych has narrowly won. Mr Yanukovych is given a lead of 3-5% over Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. President Viktor Yushchenko lost in the first round. If correct, it would be a remarkable comeback for Mr Yanukovych, who was swept aside five years ago by the Orange Revolution. He would be expected to make Ukraine's foreign policy more pro-Russian. The BBC's Richard Galpin in Kiev says the result would be an extraordinary indictment of the Orange Revolution leaders' failure to deliver on their...

The former commander of the Russian navy's Baltic fleet on Friday denied Swedish media reports that Russia dumped radioactive and chemical waste into Swedish waters in the Baltic Sea in the early 1990s. "This is complete nonsense and a clear provocation, propagated at an international level," Admiral Vladimir Yegorov, who commanded the Baltic fleet from 1991 to 2000, told the Interfax news agency. Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt on Thursday called for the previous governments to explain a television report that Russia dumped chemical weapons and radioactive waste off the shores of a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea. According...

After favouring the U.S. for its recent purchases of hi-tech military equipment, India has now turned to Russia, its old supplier, for the next generation fighter aircraft. PAK FA, Russia’s fifth generation fighter, which boasts of radar evasion characteristics, made its maiden flight only late last month. India inked an agreement with Russia for jointly developing this aircraft, but the time taken to complete the paperwork meant that 70 per cent of the plane was already developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau. Now India has planned to enter the project mid-way. It will discuss the development schedule for the coming...

http://www.diploweb.com/Russie-Europe-les-risques-du.html Russia-Europe: The dangers of a "reset" Françoise Thom* French Original here: http://www.diploweb.com/Russie-Europe-les-risques-du.html What strikes a historian when looking at the relationship between Russia and Europe is the unchanging illusions Russia produces in the imagination of Westerners, and Russia’s ability to dictate the conceptual frameworks within which it wants to be interpreted --and misunderstood-- abroad. This explains another mystery in the relationship between Russians and Europeans: the astonishing imperviousness of the Western partners to experience. The successive setbacks suffered by businessmen in Russia, the snubs regularly inflicted on European statesmen, the murders, the insults to diplomats, the abusive nationalizations, the...

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen expressed surprise Saturday that Russia still considers the military alliance a major security threat just as their ties are improving. "I was surprised to read that Russia considers NATO a main threat in its new doctrine. This does not reflect the real world," he said, according to his spokesman James Appathurai. "NATO is not an enemy of Russia. We want a strategic partnership with Russia because we share common threats," he said, a day after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a new military strategy document, naming NATO as a threat. The document, published on...

Near the brink in Georgia - Ben Smith: Near the brink in Georgia February 03, 2010 Near the brink in Georgia I have a story today on a fascinating new book on the Georgia war of 2008: President George W. Bush and his senior aides considered — and rejected — a military response to Russia’s 2008 invasion of Georgia, according to a new history of the conflict and interviews with former officials in the Bush administration. With desperate Georgians begging for American help in closing down the key route through which Russian soldiers were pouring into the country, Bush’s national...

An installation test flight of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile is scheduled to take place this year in the Baltic Sea from a stealth frigate being built for the Indian Navy at Kaliningrad in Russia, A. Sivathanu Pillai, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, BrahMos Aerospace Limited, said on Tuesday. The missile’s vertical launcher and fire control system, made in India, was transported to Kaliningrad and fitted into the stealth frigate, a Talwar-class ship. Dr. Pillai disclosed this when Russian National Security Advisor Nikolai Patroshev, along with Ambassador Alexander Kadakin, visited the BrahMos Complex in New Delhi. The BrahMos missile...

Moscow's policy breeds frustration in Kaliningrad EASTWEEK 2010-02-03 | Agata Dubas and Jadwiga Rogoża On 30 January, the largest social and political protest in many years took place in Kaliningrad. Ten thousand people demanded better welfare conditions for the region and the resignation of the Kaliningrad governor Georgy Boos; they also called on PM Vladimir Putin to resign. The underlying cause of the protest came from Moscow's long-term policy of prioritising Kaliningrad's integration with Russia while attaching secondary importance to the region's development. The policy of centralisation (which has been adversely affecting the region), as well as the changes to...

Russia says concerned at Romania hosting U.S. missiles MOSCOW Fri Feb 5, 2010 2:14pm EST MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia Friday said it was concerned by Romania's decision to host interceptor missiles as part of a U.S. plan to protect Europe and demanded clarification. Romania said Thursday its top defense body had approved the deployment, which Washington says is aimed at defending against current and emerging ballistic missile threats from Iran. "We certainly have concerns in this regard. There is a demand for clarification," Russia's Foreign Ministry said. The Romanian deployment is part of a revamped U.S. missile defense approach taken...

Central Partnership, Russia's leading independent production company, has won a government tender to make the first fully state-funded feature since Soviet times — $8 million budgeted patriotic war film, “The Brest Fortress� — in association with state film studio Belarusfilm in Russia’s Western neighbor Belarus. It is the first of a raft of similar government-backed patriotic films that will roll out from 2010 onwards under a new policy that switches state funding to projects more in line with wider Kremlin political priorities. The amount of money pledged is nearly 10 times as much as the maximum amount given in Russia...

Norwegian military intelligence believes that the number of Russian military aircraft operating off the Norwegian coast will decline this year. The reason is logistics. The new Russian defense budget has cut fuel purchases for the air force. No fuel, no flying. The Russians are doing this because, despite lower oil prices (for Russians main export) and the aftereffects of the global recession, Russia has to rebuild its' armed forces. By cutting fuel purchases, more money is available for new equipment. A year ago, former Russian president, and current prime minister, Vladimir Putin, announced that, despite the current recession, and low...

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev on Friday signed a new version of its main military strategy document which named NATO expansion as one of the chief threats to the country's security. The document, published on the Kremlin web site, listed first among "chief outside military threats" the fact that NATO is attempting to "globalise its functions in contravention of international law." It also cited attempts to bring "military infrastructure of NATO members closer to Russian borders, including by expanding the bloc." Russia has bristled at moves by former Soviet republics such as Georgia and Ukraine to join NATO and relations between...

* Even the replacement of the Soviet-backed government and the rise of the Muslim-fundamentalist Taliban didn't quite end the adventures of the Il-76 in Afghanistan. On 3 August 1995, a MiG-19S fighter operated by the Taliban government intercepted an Il-76TD operated by the Russian airline Airstan and forced it to land in Kandahar. Taliban officials were annoyed at Russian backing of anti-Taliban Afghan forces and wanted to use the crew as hostages for the return of Taliban members believed to be held by the Russians. The Russian government negotiated to no effect; a scheme to perform a commando raid to...

Indian Air Force's multi-role Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fighters could be armed with supersonic cruise missiles by 2012, giving them the capability to strike ground targets from stand-off distance. "The work to adopt the missile for deployment on fighter is being carried out by the Rosoboronexport, the Sukhoi Design Bureau and NPO Mashinostroyeniya (Russian partner in BrahMos JV)," a top official of the aircraft manufacturer has said, adding that the missiles could be mounted on the aircraft in two years. With this, India would get the capability to fire these missiles from land, sea as well as air. BrahMos are already...

In the last few months, major Russian newspapers, that have been critical of the government, have been attacked by hackers. Currently, Novaya Gazeta, highly respected for its investigative reporting, has had its web site shut down by hackers for a week (via a powerful DDOS attack). Novaya Gazeta publishes three issues a week, and its reporting is picked up globally via its web site. Novaya Gazeta's reporting has certainly upset some people, as four of their reporters have been murdered in the past nine years. Last November, hackers broke into the web site of mass audience (circulation of a million)...

America Rides Off into the SunsetThe only people excited about the “change” in America's foreign policy are the world’s bad actors.  Thousands in Tokyo have been echoing Barack Obama’s signature call for “change� — as in “Change Japanese-U.S. relations!� Our military is rushing anti-missile batteries to Iran’s Arab neighbors in anticipation of new Iranian military escalation. As in the case of the 2004 Indonesian tsunami, the U.S. both gives the most aid to a devastated Haiti and still seems to receive the most criticism. China has just warned us not to supply more armaments to Taiwan. Our Predator drones continue...

Piercing the army's armour of deception Ajai Shukla / New Delhi February 4, 2010, 0:31 IST Vital facts on the Russian T-90 tank deal were suppressed and its performance on the field has been a disaster. On August 24 last year, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) dressed up failure as achievement when — almost nine years after India bought the T-90 tank from Russia — the first 10 built-in-India T-90s were ceremonially rolled out of the Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF) near Chennai. No reasons were given for that delay. Nor did the Ministry of Defence (MoD) reveal the T-90’s ballooning...

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says Moscow has agreed to sell Libya weapons in a $1.8 billion deal. Mr. Putin made the announcement Saturday while meeting with the head of Izhmash, a major Russian gun manufacturer. He said the contract was signed Friday, and covers both small arms and more complex weapons. Russia's Interfax news agency had quoted a "military diplomatic source" as saying Libya was ready to buy about 20 fighter planes from Moscow, as well as air defense systems and several dozen tanks. Libyan Defense Minister Major General Younis Jaber met with officials in Moscow earlier this week....

Sukhoi's Stealth Fighter May Be Quick Export to India Posted by David A. Fulghum at 2/2/2010 9:12 AM CST U.S. intelligence officials are closely monitoring the testing of Sukhoi’s T-50 stealth fighter prototype. It’s first flight from Komsomolsk has packed Russian blogs with pictures and videos taken from the base’s fence line and transcripts of in-flight conversations between Russian aircrews. Funding aid for the program is expected to come from India, say U.S. officials. India's air force is becoming sophisticated and has adopted an operational flexibility and tactical innovation similar to U.S. Air Force and Navy fighter units. The flights...

The US and Russia have agreed in principle on a deal to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start) that expired in December after 15 years as the centerpiece of nuclear arms control, the Wall Street Journal reports today. The deal, which officials said could be ready to sign in two months, would cut each side’s nuclear arsenal to between 1,500 and 1,675 operationally deployed warheads — down from 2,200 on the American side and 2,800 in Russia, which has also kept an unknown number in reserve. Both countries would also commit to deeper cuts in the number of operational...

It may surprise readers to learn that in 2009 Vietnam was Russia’s best customer for its arms exports (www.defensenews.com, January 21). During 2009, Vietnam bought six Russian kilo-class submarines and 12 Su-30MKK fighters (Hanoi, VNEXpress, December 16, 2009; Kommersant, December 18; Interfax, December 15; RIA Novosti, December 4). While Vietnam most likely bought these weapons to counter the growing might of the Chinese navy and its continuing claims to the Spratly Islands off Vietnam’s coast, the motives for both sides are deeper. Although Vietnam’s fleet is antiquated, it clearly has decided to develop those capabilities to counter China’s claims and...

Dmitry Medvedev sent his special envoy to the western outpost of Kaliningrad ­today after thousands of Russians took to the streets in the largest rally since the fall of the Soviet Union. The protest, staged at the weekend, saw between 10,000 and 12,000 people gather in Kaliningrad's main square to demand the resignation of the governor and shout slogans against the ruling United Russia party. Smaller opposition rallies were held in other towns, including Vladivostok – the scene of regular protests by car drivers over the past 18 months – as well as Moscow and St Petersburg. Riot police violently...

Russia's T-90 vs India's Arjun Ajai Shukla / New Delhi February 02, 2010, 0:23 IST Next month, India’s homegrown Arjun tank will take on the new Russian T-90 in a long-awaited comparative trial. The outcome could decide whether the Indian Army will ride Indian tanks into future battles or continue its reliance upon a heavily criticised fleet of Russian T-72 tanks, which even the army chief admits is 80 per cent blind at night, when most tank battles occur. The army’s Bikaner-headquartered 24 Infantry Division will conduct the month-long trials in the desert expanses around Bikaner, Suratgarh and Pokhran. A...

On March 29 of last year (2009), DefenseReview published a story stating that we disagreed with the cancellation of the F-22 Raptor program, and calling for at least 1,000 Raptors, total, to be built and fielded. This is because we knew that advanced Russian and Chinese Gen 5 (5th-Generation) fighters have been under development for quite some time, and will likely pose either a grave military threat to the United States or undermine our power around the world when dealing with Rogue Islamic states/countries. Well, three days ago, the AFP and other international news sources reported that the Russians have...

There are, of course, some fundamental differences between the Soviets' war in the 1980s and the U.S.-led mission today. First, the Soviet Union intervened to save a communist regime which was in danger of collapsing due to resistance to its comprehensive and often traumatic social-engineering programs. Unlike the Soviets and their client regime, the United States is not interested in forcibly removing the burkas from Afghan women, shooting large numbers of mullahs for resisting secularization, or reprogramming the political and social mores of Afghans. Instead, Washington has a far more limited objective: namely, ensuring that Afghanistan remains an inhospitable base...

Leadership: The speaker of the House wants to extend a proposed freeze on domestic programs to include defense spending. In a world of growing threats, perhaps she'd also like to cut her travel and bar bill. Last week the Russian air force celebrated the maiden flight of the Sukhoi T-50, Moscow's version of the American F-22 Raptor stealth fighter. We have shut down the F-22 production line, viewing it as an unaffordable and unnecessary extravagance. (snip) Everybody has to make a sacrifice," Pelosi was quoted as saying in an interview with Politico, shortly before Obama announced his proposed discretionary spending...

On January 29, the prototype Russian fifth generation Prospective Aircraft Complex of Frontline Aviation (PAK FA) “T-50” finally completed a successful 45 minute test flight in Komsomolsk-na-Amurye. The stealth multirole fighter was developed by OKB Sukhoi (experimental design bureau) to replace MiG-29 and Su-27’s and is reportedly analogous to the US F-22 (Raptor). Mikhail Pogosyan, Sukhoi’s Director-General, praised the aircraft’s maiden flight, saying that it marked a breakthrough for the Russian aviation industry (Rossiya 24, January 29). Indeed, the reported technical specifications of the aircraft are impressive. It has a maximum supersonic cruising speed of 2,100 kilometers (km) per hour,...

Russia’s revisionist policy towards the West OSW Studies 2009-12-20 | Marcin Kaczmarski Russia’s actions so far have led to a kind of deadlock. Moscow has managed to stop NATO enlargement into the CIS area, persuade the USA not to deploy the missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, and avoid major consequences after the war with Georgia; nevertheless, the full implementation of its objectives remains unlikely.

Russia will not just watch Patriot missiles deployed 29.01.2010 15:13 Russia's ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin, warned on Friday that his country will not passively watch the deployment of a U.S. Patriot missile battery in Poland. The US will supply the Patriots and 100 troops in Poland this year, to be stationed not far from the Russian Kaliningrad border. "Do they really think that we will calmly watch the location of a rocket system, at a distance of 60 km from Kaliningrad?", the Russian diplomat said Friday. Rogozin refused to clarify what the response of the Russian side would be...

Russian FM 'doesn't understand' Polish missiles The Associated Press Friday, January 22, 2010; 4:52 AM MOSCOW -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says he doesn't understand Poland's plans to station a battery of U.S. Patriot missiles near the border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Lavrov was reacting Friday to an announcement Wednesday by the Polish Defense Ministry saying a base with up to eight launch pads and manned by some 100 U.S. troops will be installed in the town 37 miles (60 kilometers) from the Poland-Kaliningrad border. Poland says the missiles, to be installed in April, will be used...

Aardvark's Asian Airshow Adieu Posted by Robert Wall at 1/30/2010 10:19 PM CST The F-111 has been one of the most spectacular air show aircraft in modern times, thanks to its ability to trail a “wall of fire.” But with the Royal Australian Air Force due to retire its F-111s this year, the long-range interdiction aircraft is saying fair well to the air show circuit. The Singapore Airshow will be the last Asian event where the F-111 will show off its ability to dump fuel, set it alight, and trail it. During its daily air display, the F-111 will twice...

The United States will soon start transporting military supplies to Afghanistan across Russian air space as only some technical problems remain, Russia's NATO envoy Dmitry Rogozin said on Friday. Russia and the United States have discussed in detail the transit of military cargos through Russian air space on condition of inspection, Rogozin said in a video press conference between Moscow and Brussels. A summit between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama in July 2009 saw an agreement allowing 4,500 flights a year carrying U.S. troops and weapons to Afghanistan across the Russian territory for free. Obama hailed...

The Soviet-era Buran space programme, mothballed 20 years ago, may be revived. With NASA about to retire its ageing fleet of space shuttles, there is a pressing need for viable space transport. Propeller Two decades ago the Soviet space shuttle Buran blasted off on its first and only orbital flight. Just a few years later, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the programme was shelved. The Buran was the Soviet Union's answer to NASA’s space shuttle programme. On November 15, 1988, the shuttle was propelled out of the Earth’s atmosphere by the specially designed Energia booster rocket from the...

The latest Russian fighter design, the T-50, made its first flight on January 29th. Also called PAK FA (Prospective Aviation System of Frontline Aviation), or T-50, it’s a radical development of the Su-27/30/35 series of aircraft. The 47 minute test flight was done without the new engines designed for the T-50. Russia has always had problems with high performance jet engines, and those woes continue. "Evolving" an aircraft design, in this case, the Su-27, is a Russian custom. New models of a base design are given new names. The U.S. also does this, but keeps the original name. The Russian...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Police detained up to 100 anti-Kremlin protesters, including leading opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, in central Moscow Sunday, despite an appeal by rights group Amnesty International to let the rally go ahead. Hundreds of people gathered to protest against what they say is a long-running Kremlin campaign to dismantle the constitutional right to peaceful protest, one of the few avenues open to Russia's weak and fragmented opposition. Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister, is leader of the opposition group Solidarity and one of the toughest critics of the Kremlin and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. At a similar rally...

On 11 November 2009 the Russian libertarian economist Andrei Illarionov spoke at a meeting of the "discussion club" of the OGF (United Citizens Front) in Moscow. He offered some remarkable observations and analysis that American readers should know about. For those who are unfamiliar with his work, it is worth noting that Illarionov has been an economic advisor to Russian leaders, resigning in protest when Russian leaders refused to take his advice. Illarionov speaks out boldly, and has warned American politicians that their policy toward Russia is worse than appeasement. In an article that appeared in the Washington Post...

The 'Raptorski' creates its ripples of envy news Rajiv Singh 30 January 2010 Moscow: The successful debut test flight of the Russian Sukhoi-designed fifth-generation fighter jet in the Russian Far East on Friday is already creating ripples, including those of the envious kind. The fighter prototype, designated the PAK-FA T-50, is meant to be Russia's answer to the American Lockheed constructed F-22 Raptor. Indeed, Western military sources, for long, have referred to it as the 'Raptorski.' The 47-minute flight carried out by Sergei Bogdan, one of Russia's best test pilots, marks the launch of a five year long project that...

For the first time since 1995, the Russian population has increased. It went up about 20,000, to 141.9 million. The growth was caused by a 4 percent decline in death rates, and more immigration (mostly ethnic Russians coming from countries that used to be part of the Soviet Union.) This migration caused a spurt of growth after the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991, and population peaked in 1995 at 148.5 million. But low birth rates, and rising death rates, caused continual decline since then, until 2009. The government has improved public health, and made it easier to have children...

Former prime minister Viktor Yanukovych could secure a victory in Ukraine’s upcoming presidential run-off, according to a poll by the Kyiv International Sociology Institute. 55.9 per cent of respondents would support Yanukovych of the Party of Regions (PR) in next month’s ballot, while 40.7 per cent would vote for current prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. A series of public demonstrations took place in Kiev after the November 2004 presidential run-off. The Ukrainian Supreme Court eventually invalidated the results of the second round, and ordered a special re-vote. Opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko—whose supporters wore orange-coloured clothing at events and rallies—received 51.99 per...

Russia proposed to China that the two nations should sell Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds in 2008 to force the US government to bail out the giant mortgage-finance companies, former US Treasury secretary Hank Paulson has claimed. The allegation is in his memoir On the Brink in which he also suggests that Alistair Darling, the UK chancellor, blocked a rescue takeover of Lehman Brothers by Barclays Bank when he refused to support special treatment by UK regulators. “Russian officials had made a top-level approach to the Chinese, suggesting that together they might sell big chunks of their GSE holdings...

Iran and Russia have agreed on another start-up date for the nuclear energy reactor at Bushehr. Officials said the two countries agreed to begin operations of the 1,000 megawatt nuclear reactor in late 2010. They said the Bushehr reactor, built by Russia, was undergoing its final stage of tests. "2010 is the year of Bushehr," Rosatom director Sergei Kiriyenko said. In a briefing in Moscow on Jan. 21, Kiriyenko said Bushehr would be completed by the end of 2010. He said Russia's state-owned prime contractor Atomstroyexport had not reported delays in the final stage of Bushehr, a $1 billion project...

Well, this brings back the old days when Flug Revue would pop out some over-the-fence shots obtained from the Military Missions in East Germany, and the assembled reptiles at Flight would adjourn to our secret analysis facility to figure out what it all meant. First of all, for anyone contemplating the use of the word "Raptorski": don't. While this is an airplane that could have been the answer to the Advanced Tactical Fighter requirement, way back when, it's not an F-22 in many important ways. In a lot of ways, the T-50 reflects the heritage of the T-10 Flanker series...

A new jet fighter seen as Russia's response to U.S. advances in military aviation made a successful first test flight on Friday, plane maker Sukhoi said Friday. The "fifth-generation" fighter — Russia's first all-new warplane since Soviet times — flew for about 45 minutes, Sukhoi spokeswoman Olga Kayukova said on Rossia television. "The plane performed very well. All our expectations for this first flight were met," Kayukova said. "The premiere was a success." Analysts have said it would probably be five to seven years before Russia's military gets to fly the first of the new fighters. [...]

MOSCOW – Russia's first stealth fighter intended to match the latest U.S. design made its maiden flight Friday, boosting the country's efforts to modernize its rusting Soviet-built arsenals and retain its lucrative export market. The Sukhoi T-50's flight comes nearly two decades after the first prototype of the U.S. F-22 Raptor took to the air, and Russian officials said it will take another five years for the new jet to enter service. Still, the flight marked a major step in Russia's efforts to burnish the faded glory of its aviation industries and strengthen a beleaguered military. The sleek twin-engined jet...